Author: Neon Vincent

I am updating the continuing story of increasing diversity and representation among Emmy acting and hosting nominees that I began two years ago at Crazy Eddie’s Motie News, my personal blog, in Emmy nominations for acting showcase diversity when there were 22 nominees of color and continued in last year’s “Fear the Walking Dead: Passage” contributes to diversity at the 2017 Primetime Emmy Awards when the number increased to 26 (or 27 according to Deadline Hollywood).  This year set another record with 36 acting nominees of color, 38 if one counts hosts of reality television shows.  Given six nominations each in 18 acting categories, that 108 slots (it’s actually 112, as two categories have five nominees, while the supporting acting categories have seven and one this year has eight and another has six).  That’s 32.1% of the acting nominees, 32.5% if one includes the reality TV hosts.  Either way, it’s a new record and a sign that efforts to make television look like America and reward performances fairly are working.

Speaking of rewarding performances fairly working, ANI News Official on YouTube reported Sunday Emmys 2018: Black actors make history, sweep guest categories.

For the first time in Emmy history, all four guest star awards have been awarded to black actors. Tiffany Haddish, Ron Cephas Jones, Samira Wiley, and Katt Williams received the award on Sunday for their respective television guest star appearances. All four actors are first-time Emmy winners. Haddish was awarded for her work on ‘Saturday Night Live’, Williams received the gong for ‘Atlanta’, Jones received it for ‘This Is Us’ and Wiley was awarded for her performance in ‘Handmaid’s Tale’. The victories come as pleasant news amidst a larger push for diversity and inclusion in the television and film industry, both in front and behind the camera. While the black actors have earned awards in each of the guest categories before, this was the first instance when four African-American performers received the award in the same year. The Primetime Emmy Awards is scheduled to be held on September 17.

First, congratulations!  Second, time to check what I wrote about these categories in ‘Saturday Night Live’ leads Outstanding Variety Sketch Series nominations, again and ‘Westworld,’ ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ ‘Stranger Things,’ and other speculative fiction nominees at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards at Crazy Eddie’s Motie News.

For Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy, my prediction was “Bryan Cranston is probably the best actor of the bunch, but that doesn’t mean he’ll win.  Instead, I think the award will once again go to one of the guest hosts from SNL.  Which one?  Doesn’t matter to me.”  Wrong, but two of the guest hosts, Danny Glover and Lin-Manuel Miranda, would have qualified as diverse, and Glover is the star of “Atlanta,” so I wasn’t far off.

I was closer with my pick for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy, where I wrote “The speculative fiction fan in me wants this to go to Maya Rudolph, but I think it will between one of the hosts of SNL and Jane Lynch.  Yes, more ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.'”  Tiffany Haddish was a guest host of SNL, so I’ll count this as a success.

I was all over the place while trying to predict Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama, but I think I managed to hit the target anyway.

Alexis Bledel won this award last year, but she has been promoted to a supporting role while Samira Wiley has been moved down to a guest role along with two other actresses in guest roles in “The Handmaid’s Tale.”  If the voting members of the Television Academy wish to honor “The Handmaid’s Tale” again, I think they would pick Wiley.  However, they could split their vote and one of Davis, Rigg, or Tyson could receive the trophy instead.  I’d vote for Davis, but I’m not a member of the Television Academy; another split of their vote between Davis and Tyson could have Rigg sneak by.  They could do better, but they could do worse, too.

Samira Wiley was the first name I mentioned, which means it was my “first choice.”  Another success!

On the other hand, I completely missed the mark with Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama.

The speculative fiction nominee here is Jimmi Simpson as a young William AKA The Man in Black in “Westworld.”  I was expecting Anthony Hopkins, but I suspect his episodes were too late in the season to earn enough nominating votes.  That’s not to take anything away from Simpson; he deserved the nomination.  His winning will likely be another matter, as Gerald McRaney won last year and is my choice for favorite.  Also, F. Murray Abraham is an Oscar winner.  That might count for something.

Right show, wrong actor.  A near miss, but a miss just the same.
As for the winner of the Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program, I wrote “I’m rooting for RuPaul, whose shows make quite the social statement of acceptance and self-expression as well.”  I got my wish, as RuPaul Charles won.  Here is RuPaul Charles wins 2018 Emmy for hosting ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ thanks Gold Derby backstage.

RuPaul Charles wins 2018 Emmy for hosting ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race.’ Watch RuPaul chat with Gold Derby backstage in the press room.

Fabulous and hilarious!  Congratulations!

Stay tuned for more blogging about the Emmys.

In the tip jar to Part 4 of Sears, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse, I wrote that “I’ll be focusing on the Emmy Awards.  There are a lot of nominees about politics and government that would be on topic here.” I begin the series by recognizing three regular subjects of my blogging at Crazy Eddie’s Motie News, Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and NASA, all of whom have nominated shows at this year’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

I begin with Bill Nye Saves The World.  The Netflix series has earned a nomination for Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality, or Reality-Competition Series.  This is almost identical to the nomination it earned last year for Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Nonfiction, Reality, or Reality Competition Programming.  Congratulations on the near-repeat!  On the other hand, Nye’s series is competing against “Dancing With The Stars,” “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (the episode on the now-dead Sinclair-Tribune merger and long-dead Warren G. Harding I already wrote about), “Saturday Night Live,” and “The Voice.”  “Saturday Night Live” won this Emmy Award last year and I think it’s favored again this year.  As I wrote last year, “Bill Nye and Netflix should just be happy to get the nomination.”

“Bill Nye Saves The World” missed out on being renominated for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming this year, a category it lost to “13th” last year.  I’m not surprised, as this year’s nominees compose a tough field, which I plan on writing about later.  In the meantime, here is the Official Trailer for Season Two.

He’s a science guy. An entertainer. A spiffy dresser. And he’s back to drop some knowledge on life-changing topics.

Once again, I’ll have to watch this show; I know my students are.

“StarTalk With Neil deGrasse Tyson” earned a fourth nomination for Outstanding Informational Series or Special, a repeat from last year.  This joins its nomination for Reality Television at the 2018 EMA Awards, where I mentioned its Emmy nomination.

I’d have rooted for “StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson,” as it was nominated for an Emmy last year and again this year.  It lost to “Vice,” which it is competing against for Outstanding Informational Series or Special this year, just as it was last year.  I’ll be writing about both later, especially “Vice,” which also has nine News and Documentary Emmy nominations.

I doubt either “StarTalk” or “Vice” will win.  Instead, I think it will be either “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath,” which won this category last year, or Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, which won the category the four years before that.  Because of Bourdain’s recent suicide, I suspect his show has the inside track.  As for “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman,” I will tell the show and Netflix the same thing I said about “Bill Nye Saves the World,” just be happy to be nominated.

I’ll write about “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” and its competitors in the other six categories in which it is nominated later, but before I do, I’m being a good environmentalist and recycling what I wrote in June.

I’m sure I’ll be writing about Emmy nominations for both Bourdain and “Parts Unknown” next month, just as I will for R.I.P. Stephen Hawking 1942-2018.  Those will be bittersweet experiences.

“Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places” was not renominated at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards this year, but he was a guest in an episode of StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson.

As tribute to the life and works of world-renowned Stephen Hawking, host Neil deGrasse Tyson’s recent StarTalk interview with the groundbreaking theoretical physicist. Also featuring astrophysicist Janna Levin, comedian Matt Kirshen, physicist Michio Kaku, and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

That sort of makes up for the lack of a nomination for Hawking.

Follow over the jump for NASA/JPL’s nomination as well as two nominees that I consider to be honorary entries about space.
Moving even farther out into space, “NASA JPL: Cassini’s Grand Finale” earned a nomination for Outstanding Original Interactive Program.  This is the video I probably should have used instead the NASA news clip I included in Goodbye, Cassini!

The final chapter in a remarkable mission of exploration and discovery, Cassini’s Grand Finale is in many ways like a brand new mission. Twenty-two times, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will dive through the unexplored space between Saturn and its rings. What we learn from these ultra-close passes over the planet could be some of the most exciting revelations ever returned by the long-lived spacecraft. This animated video tells the story of Cassini’s final, daring assignment and looks back at what the mission has accomplished.

Joining “Cassini’s Grand Finale” as a nominee in the category is “Back To The Moon,” a glorified Google doodle.  The nomination is probably for the 360 version, but I’m embedding the theatrical version instead.

The Google Doodle, Google Spotlight Stories, Google Arts & Culture, & Cinémathèque Française teams present Back to the Moon celebrating the life and artistry of French illusionist and film director Georges Méliès. Produced by Nexus Studios.

That’s much more speculative fiction, both fantasy and science fiction, than science or space, but it’s a fun clip just the same.

Joining both are three speculative fiction featurettes, “Blade Runner 2049: Memory Lab,” “Coco VR,” and “Spider-Man Homecoming VR Experience.”  I’ll have more to write about then later when I cover the speculative fiction nominees.

The final nominee that earned an honorable mention for being about space was “Earth: Shot On iPhone,” a nominee for Outstanding Commercial.  I included it because it quotes Carl Sagan from “Pale Blue Dot.”

Our only home. Shot on iPhone through the lens of everyday users. Written and narrated by Carl Sagan, from the book, Pale Blue Dot — A Vision of the Human Future in Space.

That’s cool.  I’ll discuss the other nominees for Outstanding Commercial, “Alexa Loses Her Voice,” “In Real Life – Monica Lewinsky – Anti-Bullying,” “It’s A Tide Ad – Tide,” and “The Talk – P&G – My Black Is Beautiful,” in the tip jar.

Business Insider has a a video that goes along with Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of Sears, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse, We Went Inside A Sears And Saw Why The Company Is Dying.

We visited a Sears in Jersey City, New Jersey to see why the company is imploding. We were shocked by the dismal conditions on a Tuesday afternoon.

When asked for comment Sears spokesperson Howard Riefs responded with the following: “Some areas of this particular Sears store are in seasonal transition and other areas are in the midst of project work. For example, we recently moved the men’s department to the lower level and are in the process of replacing the carpeting in the former denim section. Nevertheless, the described images from this store are not representative of the majority of our Sears locations and do not depict what we want our members and customers to experience. We take these matters seriously and this store’s team has already begun addressing the issues. We hope your video depicts a comprehensive look at this store, which includes our all-new Showcase area featuring top international apparel, footwear and accessory brands that are debuting in America exclusively at Sears.”

Yikes!  That’s worse than anything Retail Archeology showed!

In Part 2 of Sears, a tale of the retail apocalypse at Booman Tribune, I wrote “As Sears closes more stores, expect to see more scenes like this.  When that happens, I’ll post a third part to this mini-series.”  Last Thursday, Sears Holdings did just that, as Wochit Business reported in Sears Closes 46 Store Locations.

Business Insider reports, “Sears is closing even more stores. The department-store chain was once the largest retailer in the United States but has cut its store count in half in the last five years.” Forty-six of it’s [sic] store locations are set to close in the next year. They include 13 Kmart stores and 33 Sears stores. Their closing sales are starting on August 30th, and after these next 46 locations close that brings up the total number of their locations that have closed to almost 300. The company made this announcement, “We continue to evaluate our network of stores, which is a critical component to our integrated retail transformation, and will make further adjustments as needed.”

The map above shows one of the locations in this latest wave is in Jackson, Michigan, which is in a mall where I shopped when I I lived out in the country.  I found an MLive story about the closing, but no video.  The article mentioned that it was the only Michigan location closing announced last week, but noted that stores in “Flint, Traverse City, Dearborn, Troy, and Sterling Heights” were already in the process of shutting down.  Troy?  That wasn’t on the list of outlets I referenced in Part 1 of Sears, a tale of the retail apocalypse.  It turns out that it was announced in July, as WDIV/Click on Detroit reported in Sears closing at Oakland Mall location in Troy.

The Sears at the Oakland Mall in Troy will be closing.

My wife and I have shopped at that Sears, although we prefer the Macy’s there.  Just the same, this is the first sign that the Oakland Mall, which I thought was getting a little long in the tooth when we went there, is starting to die.  It will take a while for it to close like Northland Mall, but unless it gets a replacement anchor, the process has officially started.  That hurts, although my wife and I have a Sears just a bit closer at Twelve Oaks Mall.  I don’t think that one will close until the entire chain goes under, which should happen next year, as Twelve Oaks Mall is still thriving.  When that happens, it will hurt.

I conclude today’s episode of the ongoing story of the Retail Apocalypse with USA Today explaining the emotional impact of retail chains declining and closing in Why seeing Sears stores close hurts hearts.

With Sears closing stores amid a mountain of debt, the end may be drawing near for the iconic American retailer, and many of us aren’t ready.

I’ve been mourning ever since I posted Vox on America’s dying malls as failed third spaces in April at Crazy Eddie’s Motie News.

I concluded Part 1 of Sears, a tale of the retail apocalypse by writing a program note: “I plan on presenting the view on the ground on Monday, when I will share three videos from Retail Archeology.  Stay tuned.”  I begin with Come See The Deader Side of Sears.

A video tour and mini documentary about the dying retail store Sears. Footage was filmed in Mesa, AZ on 11/30/2016.

While this does not take the same long-range perspective as Sears: The Rise And Fall Of The Massive U.S. Retailer from CNBC, it still gives a sense of history though personal detail as well as serving as an example of the decline of Sears.  

The narrator mentioned that the Sears store in this video was in better shape than the one in Fiesta Mall, which he had just recorded.*  That store appears in Sears: Open For The Community? | FIESTA MALL LOCATION CLOSING JANUARY 2018 and shows a location in serious decline.

In this episode of Retail Archaeology we take a look at the Sears located at Fiesta Mall. It was announced on 11/2/2017 that this store will be closing in January of 2018. Filming for this video was done on a Saturday afternoon between 12pm & 1pm at Fiesta Mall. What the hell does “open for the community” mean?

All of the efforts to attract customers failed and the store was scheduled to close, as documented in Sears: Not Open For The Community | Retail Archaeology Dead Mall & Retail Documentary.

In this episode of Retail Archaeology we take a look at a Sears in the final stages of its liquidation sale. This is the Sears at the dead mall Fiesta Mall and is the same location I covered 6 months ago that put up the weird “Open For The Community” banner.

That’s every bit as sad as the closing KMart stores in Toys R Us closing down and Kmart may follow on my personal blog.  As Sears closes more stores, expect to see more scenes like this.

Retail Archeology has videos on other stores suffering during the retail apocalypse, including Macy’s, Penny’s, Radio Shack, Claire’s, and, of course, Toys R Us and Kmart.  I’ve already done a series on Toys R Us and plan on posting entries with videos on the other chains as well.  In addition, I have a third part of this series to post and might have a fourth after that.  Stay tuned.

*I may post videos of that mall’s decline and closing, too.

In the comments to Part 3 of Toys R Us, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse — Company Man, I promised “When I finish with Toys R Us, I’ll start a series on Sears.”  Here it is.

I begin with CNNMoney reporting Sears is closing 63 more stores.

The company initially announced plans Thursday to close 72 stores, but pulled back slightly and released a list of only 63 stores slated for closing – 48 Sears stores and 15 Kmart stores, spread across 29 states. The company said the nine additional stores that it initially planned to announce would close will be evaluated further.

MarketWatch put these closings in context, at least for the short term.

Sears said Thursday it had closed 67 Kmart stores and 41 Sears stores during the 13 weeks ended May 5, and closed 303 Kmart stores and 123 Sears stores in 2017.

CNNMoney described the longer term trend.

The company closed nearly 400 stores during the past 12 months, and now has a total of 894 left, including the 63 slated for closure. The two chains had a total of 3,500 US stores between them when they merged in 2005.

CNBC takes the longest possible view in Sears: The Rise And Fall Of The Massive U.S. Retailer.

Sears Holdings CEO Eddie Lampert admits his retail empire isn’t what he imagined it would become when he brought Sears and Kmart together 13 years ago. He had his eyes set then on being “the next Warren Buffett,” and Sears Holdings was supposed to be his Berkshire Hathaway, says one former top Sears executive. But Lampert’s strategy from the start was slashing costs to grow the bottom line, even if that meant not investing in Sears’ stores, the person explained to CNBC. Sears and Kmart were already lacking so many resources, namely investment capital to fend off online upstarts like Amazon, and an experienced bench of retail executives, so these early cuts took an enormous toll.

The video mentioned Sears selling off Land’s End and Craftsman.  According to CNNMoney, the brand the chain will sell off next is Kenmore, its line of appliances.  Lampert himself may end up owning it.  That’s one way to strip the assets of the company he runs.

All of the above examined Sears and its issues from the air.  I plan on presenting the view on the ground on Monday, when I will share three videos from Retail Archeology.  Stay tuned.

Happy Hump Day!  I’m filling in for Don Durito this week, spinning tunes and serving drinks for everyone’s entertainment.

This week’s theme is pop songs for pagan goddesses.  I already had a good start in the comments to My Faith is in Nemesis, so I decided to be a good environmentalist and recycle my comments here.

I begin with the live version of “Nemesis” from “The Jungle of the Senses” by Shriekback.  

I think of it as my theme song.

I continue to recycle and reuse with “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac.

I conclude the music portion of tonight’s diary with “Venus” by Bananarama.

Reuse and recycle, yes.  Reduce?  Never!
Once again, I’m concluding the diary proper by quoting Don Durito.

For those of you wondering how I and Neon Vincent are circumventing Sucuri to embed videos, here is an example of the embed code we use, so that you can replicate as wanted:

Just remember that each unique 11-digit video code in YouTube needs to be pasted in two separate locations within the embed code in order for your video to show up properly. So easy that I can do it!

With those instructions, feel free to post your favorite music videos in the comments.

“I have one more installment in this sad story to post, which will come from Retail Archeology next week.  Stay tuned.”  That’s how I concluded Part 3 of Toys R Us, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse — Company Man.  Since it’s now next week, it’s time for me to follow through with four videos showing the stages of bankruptcy and liquidation from a customers-eye view.

Unlike the previous entry in which I posted the videos in chronological order, I’m starting with the most recent video, One Last Visit To Toys R Us.

In this episode I make one last trip to my childhood Toys R Us store shortly before they all close forever. If you haven’t made that last trip to Toys R Us yet you’re running out of time!

This wasn’t the first time Retail Archeology visited a Toys R Us store.  Follow over the jump for three videos recorded over the past nine months.
The first of the series is No More Toys R Us Kids? | Dead Mall & Retail Documentary, filmed two weeks before the chain filed for bankruptcy last year.

Toys R Us was one of my favorite childhood stores. This is a video tour of Toys R Us on a Saturday afternoon. I hate to see them struggle because they’re stores are really nice as this video tour shows.

This is the same store that he and his daughter filmed in the final video in the series above the jump.  I found it both amazing and disheartening to see the transformation.

Retail Archeology posted two videos about the liquidation of the chain just after it was announced.  The first was The End of Toys R Us: All US and UK Stores Are Closing!

In this episode we take a look at footage from a Toys R Us store closing in Scottsdale, AZ. This footage was filmed on the night of 3/13/2018, the night before Toys R Us announced they will be liquidating all of their stores in the US and UK.

The liquidation sale hasn’t even started and the shelves are already emptying out.  That’s sad.

In the last video from Retail Archeology that I’m embedding, he shares the same news that I did at the end of Part 1 of Toys R Us closing down, a tale of the retail apocalypse, Goodbye Toys R Us. Hello KB Toys & Amazon?

In this episode we take a look at a Toys R Us Outlet Center in Arizona Mills Mall and talk about the recent news in the Toys R Us closure story. KB Toys is coming back and Amazon is looking to by some empty Toys R Us stores.

At least some good news came out of this spectacular business failure.  I missed KB Toys.

That’s it for this series.  As I promised in the comments to Part 3 of Toys R Us, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse — Company Man, the next series will be about Sears.

As I promised Tuesday, I am posting the next installment of Toys R Us, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.  Today, Mike the Company Man brings the bad news.

When Toys R Us declared bankruptcy 11 months ago (just before my birthday!), Company Man asked The Decline of Toys R Us…What Happened?

This week Toys R Us has filed for bankruptcy. It was shocking news and left everyone wondering what happened. This video takes a look at Toys R Us and explores the causes of the bankruptcy as well as makes predictions about the future of the company.

Unfortunately, all of Mike’s hopes for the company were for naught, as he reported the last week of June in Toys R Us – The Final Chapter.

We are in the final days of Toys R Us. A company that’s been part of our lives for the past 70 years is nearing its end. Exactly 9 months ago I made a video about their decline that talked about their core issues. It essentially told the story of Toys R Us, with the exception of the final chapter. This video completes the story and talks about what’s been happening over the past 9 months and why they weren’t able to recover.

I have one more installment in this sad story to post, which will come from Retail Archeology next week.  Stay tuned.

I told my readers to “stay tuned for three more parts to this sad series” in the footnote to Part 1 of Toys R Us closing down, a tale of the retail apocalypse.  It’s time to follow through with the first of those three parts about the demise of America’s, if not the world’s, largest toy store chain.  This second installment features the most comprehensive single video on the topic, Bright Sun Films’ Abandoned – Toys R Us.

After much request, today I wanted to take a deeper look into the worlds most famous and iconic children’s toy store that became a staple of millions childhoods, only to crumble in 2018. Lets take a look at Toys R Us.

This is a much more complete and unbiased account than CNBC gave in Part 1, which is why I shared it.

Stay tuned for Part 3 featuring Company Man and Part 4 starring Retail Archeology.